Watch, Watched, Watching: Midsommar Night Blues

[Astromech]

1 hour ago, Martini Sigil said:

The Rook was the biggest disappointment of the year for me... Starz had been on a great roll, but this one just didn't measure up..... bad writing, and Emma Greenwell just couldn't carry the lead... I'd be surprised if it gets a second season... 

Haha, I've been waiting and waiting for something to happen. There was a slight hook a few episodes back but I found myself having no real desire to continue watching it. I'm only behind two episodes so I'll probably finish it. But no rush. There are better shows to spend my free time watching. 

Mindhunter is one of those better shows.  I watched the first two episodes of s2. I honestly would prefer more Tench and Carr and less Holden, though. 

About halfway through Wu Assassins. Terrible acting and writing, but still fun. Kind of reminds of The Last Dragon for some reason.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I finally got around to seeing Avengers: Endgame. It's funny, on Friday I turned it off 45 minutes into it because I wasn't feeling it, but gave it a second shot last night and loved it. I guess the first act just drags a bit, but it makes more sense once you see the whole film. I'm really surprised by the amount of heart they were able to inject into the movie, but I guess they do have the advantage of using characters fans have grow attached to over the last decade.

[Nictarion]

1 hour ago, Astromech said:

Mindhunter is one of those better shows.  I watched the first two episodes of s2. I honestly would prefer more Tench and Carr and less Holden, though. 

I don’t know if you’ve made it any further, but Holden definitely has the least amount of focus this season. Both, Bill and Wendy’s personal lives get their own storylines, whereas Holden it’s just about the work this time around. 

[Isis]

Nearly forgot this one as it was forgetable but I watched Wild last week. I just found it underwhelming overall. It had its moments of decent acting or beautiful scenery or self-discovery but it seemed to me to be a patchwork of scenes that didn't flow together into anything powerful.

[red snow]

I enjoyed "once upon a time in hollywood". It never dragged for me despite it never seeming to have a clue what it was doing story-wise.

I've been enjoying season 4 of Preacher - feels like the goriest one yet but with a sense of direction in the story. The extinction of dinosaurs was hilarious.

Embarking on watching "the terror". Great cast and scenery so far.

[Heartofice]

2 minutes ago, red snow said:

I've been enjoying season 4 of Preacher - feels like the goriest one yet but with a sense of direction in the story. The extinction of dinosaurs was hilarious.

I don't know how far ypu've got in the season, but EP3 for me felt pretty weak, and again it feels like one of those seasons that doesn't want to push its story on that much.

Spoiler

For instance was it really necessary to have all that House De Sade stuff? Didn't seem to add anything or move the story forward, despite the reveal at the end.

The Tulip and Cassidy stuff is entertaining, but I just feel like all the characters are stuck in a rut and going over the same ground in different situations.

 

[Martell Spy]

Read an article recommending Lodge 49 and been watching that. It's a great show. I've seen about 3 and a half eps. It's a brother and a sister with lives that are kind of stuck and have various problems relating to the death of their father. And the brother joins a secret society/fraternity type thing. It's set in Long Beach, California. It's also a fantasy show, but it is a very slow burn in the magic department. I've seen a few things that might have been supernatural in the show, but it is not at all confirmed or obvious. It's a bit like the GRRM approach to fantasy. It's very subdued.

Excellent characters in the show. Also, the show is great at portraying working-class people. 

FX's What We Do in the Shadows popped up on Hulu and I saw ten minutes of that. It's hilarious from what I saw.

[Zorral]

I've gotten through Mind Hunters' season 2 through episode 6.  My greatest criticism is

Spoiler

The insertion of Tench's son as involved with the murder of a 3 year old boy.  It never happened, and it's a clumsy, lurching, needless underlining about what goes on behind the closed doors of suburbia -- particularly since it didn't happen -- a smear of the real life character and his family.

 

[Isis]

2 hours ago, red snow said:

Embarking on watching "the terror". Great cast and scenery so far.

S1 or 2?

At home sick today so I watched Limitless as it's been way down on my list for ages and I wanted something mindless. So I wasn't expecting big things from it (LUCKILY) but I thought it might be diverting or have some amusing scenes, and now that I come to think about it, it has been put to me by a couple of people (and some reviews) that it's a clever film that's about 'something else' than it purports itself to be. I found it was shallow all the way through and let's face it, Bradley Cooper has an inherently smackable face, so a film where he goes around believing himself to be The Greatest of All Time is only going to be satisfying if there is an equal amount of screen time where he's having A Bad Time - and there wasn't. A film that thinks it's much cleverer than it is. Very poor.

[Leofric]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

S1 or 2?

At home sick today so I watched Limitless as it's been way down on my list for ages and I wanted something mindless. So I wasn't expecting big things from it (LUCKILY) but I thought it might be diverting or have some amusing scenes, and now that I come to think about it, it has been put to me by a couple of people (and some reviews) that it's a clever film that's about 'something else' than it purports itself to be. I found it was shallow all the way through and let's face it, Bradley Cooper has an inherently smackable face, so a film where he goes around believing himself to be The Greatest of All Time is only going to be satisfying if there is an equal amount of screen time where he's having A Bad Time - and there wasn't. A film that thinks it's much cleverer than it is. Very poor.

The Limitless television series was much, much better.   I was pissed it was canceled after one season.

[Isis]

22 minutes ago, Leofric said:

The Limitless television series was much, much better.   I was pissed it was canceled after one season.

Crikey! There's a TV series? I mean, obviously, it felt like it was a topic which could have been explored in more depth - rather than just taking it to the extreme immediately. 

The other thing that bugged me about it was - it's such lame wish fulfillment nonsense, where some drop out loser guy who gets drunk and talks shit about his novel and is supported by his romantic partner and does fuck all for himself, just magically becomes the master of everything. His BIL says to him - 'it helps if you're smart to begin with', but where was the evidence of him being smart to begin with? Did I miss that part?

[red snow]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

S1 or 2?

At home sick today so I watched Limitless as it's been way down on my list for ages and I wanted something mindless. So I wasn't expecting big things from it (LUCKILY) but I thought it might be diverting or have some amusing scenes, and now that I come to think about it, it has been put to me by a couple of people (and some reviews) that it's a clever film that's about 'something else' than it purports itself to be. I found it was shallow all the way through and let's face it, Bradley Cooper has an inherently smackable face, so a film where he goes around believing himself to be The Greatest of All Time is only going to be satisfying if there is an equal amount of screen time where he's having A Bad Time - and there wasn't. A film that thinks it's much cleverer than it is. Very poor.

S1 although I'm also intrigued by season 2.

4 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I don't know how far ypu've got in the season, but EP3 for me felt pretty weak, and again it feels like one of those seasons that doesn't want to push its story on that much.

  Reveal hidden contents

For instance was it really necessary to have all that House De Sade stuff? Didn't seem to add anything or move the story forward, despite the reveal at the end.

The Tulip and Cassidy stuff is entertaining, but I just feel like all the characters are stuck in a rut and going over the same ground in different situations.

 

I see what you mean about the repetitive elements in episode 3 but i let them get away with it as it was novel to

have the escape plans work but Cassidy refusing to leave or not being able to in order to save his rescuer

. Episode 4 puts an end to that element though.

The scenes you mentioned i think are mainly there as a comic check-list. The "sex detectives" were another comic element but appear to be even more briefly used.

[Leofric]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

Crikey! There's a TV series? I mean, obviously, it felt like it was a topic which could have been explored in more depth - rather than just taking it to the extreme immediately. 

The other thing that bugged me about it was - it's such lame wish fulfillment nonsense, where some drop out loser guy who gets drunk and talks shit about his novel and is supported by his romantic partner and does fuck all for himself, just magically becomes the master of everything. His BIL says to him - 'it helps if you're smart to begin with', but where was the evidence of him being smart to begin with? Did I miss that part?

The series was kind of a sequel, Bradley Cooper's character is in the background (Cooper makes a few guest appearances).  But the show's focus on a different character (much more likeable) who stumbles on the pills and becomes involved with the FBI.

[RedEyedGhost]

On 8/19/2019 at 4:24 PM, Astromech said:

About halfway through Wu Assassins. Terrible acting and writing, but still fun. Kind of reminds of The Last Dragon for some reason.

That show was something else.  Definitely fell into the so bad it's good category, with some flashes of brilliance, and some strange cameos.  I would definitely watch a second season.

 

On 8/19/2019 at 5:30 PM, Nictarion said:

I don’t know if you’ve made it any further, but Holden definitely has the least amount of focus this season. Both, Bill and Wendy’s personal lives get their own storylines, whereas Holden it’s just about the work this time around. 

I watched season 2 over the past three nights... did not like it nearly as much as season 1.  Tench's kid was the main reason why, every time that storyline was the focus it felt the show ground to a halt. 

 

12 hours ago, red snow said:

I've been enjoying season 4 of Preacher - feels like the goriest one yet but with a sense of direction in the story. The extinction of dinosaurs was hilarious.

I am having a rough time with this season.  Season 3 was hot garbage, but to me season 4 is even worse.

[DireWolfSpirit]

So I've jumped on the Mindhunter bandwagon and have begun watching this series. Not bingeing, just gonna watch a few shows a week, so far it's great.

[ljkeane]

I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood last night. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting and it's a bit odd but it was fun and I enjoyed it quite a lot. One thing which did give me a bit of pause was

Spoiler

Cliff killing and potentially murdering his wife. It puts a whole different tone on following him being cool round 60's LA and then killing a bunch of Manson Family members if he did.

Continuing the Manson theme I've also recently finished watching season 2 of Mindhunter. It's a very good series but I'm wondering what the point of having little clips of the BTK killer throughout the series is. A lot of focus on a serial killer who wasn't caught by criminal profiling in a series about the development of criminal profiling does make me wonder if the entire point is that what they're doing is in fact bullshit.  

[red snow]

5 hours ago, Triskele said:

The female lead (er, I guess there are kind of two, thinking of the Asian) is pretty good, but man, the male lead is awful.  As wooden as can be.  The actress in the purgatory place is quite terrible too.  

I felt like the first 4 or 5 eps that I watched were also all over the place.  It's not 100% terrible and has some really strong moments while be garbage at other times.  

The acting is appalling. In fairness to the lead, I think the language barrier gets in the way as he's fine (for an action movie) in his roles where he speaks his native (or at least fluent) language. The purgatory woman is hilariously bad but probably for the same reasons. It does allow the Vikings actor to shine as the cop surrounded by everyone else though.

I get the impression it's a show that knows advance reviewers only get the first 4-5 episodes because the cool fight scenes really start to drop off after that or I'm just in a lull before the final 3 episodes.

[Nictarion]

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Continuing the Manson theme I've also recently finished watching season 2 of Mindhunter. It's a very good series but I'm wondering what the point of having little clips of the BTK killer throughout the series is. A lot of focus on a serial killer who wasn't caught by criminal profiling in a series about the development of criminal profiling does make me wonder if the entire point is that what they're doing is in fact bullshit.  

Here’s one take that pretty much agrees with you. 

https://www.thewrap.com/what-is-mindhunter-trying-to-do-with-all-this-stuff-about-the-btk-killer-vignettes/

[Mark Antony]

Mindhunter 

yeah I thought it was funny how wrong Holden/Tench were about nearly every btk characteristic. I loved how Kemper pretty much nailed the btk profile and called out the fact that they were only interviewing killers who had been caught so there was a bias in that. Kemper steals the show every scene he is in.

 

hoping next season they search for green river killer and interview bundy. 

[Mexal]

3 hours ago, red snow said:

The acting is appalling. In fairness to the lead, I think the language barrier gets in the way as he's fine (for an action movie) in his roles where he speaks his native (or at least fluent) language. The purgatory woman is hilariously bad but probably for the same reasons. It does allow the Vikings actor to shine as the cop surrounded by everyone else though.

I get the impression it's a show that knows advance reviewers only get the first 4-5 episodes because the cool fight scenes really start to drop off after that or I'm just in a lull before the final 3 episodes.

I liked it. I ignored the acting and just enjoyed the action. If you turn your mind off, it's pretty good. There is a lull mid way through when they make a fundamental plot change.